


Dangerous Outtakes

by clenastia



Series: Flowers Bloom in Red and Gold [4]
Category: Fairy Tail, Naruto
Genre: Action/Adventure, Bad Writing, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-24 22:54:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 12,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22005802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clenastia/pseuds/clenastia
Summary: A collection of scrapped first-drafts from my other fics, A Girl's Mind is a Dangerous Place and Wandering Fairies. Some longer than others. Warnings for Bad Writing and OOC characters.Read at your own risk.(okay I'll be honest they probably aren't THAT bad, but... they were scrapped for a reason. Just keep that in mind)
Series: Flowers Bloom in Red and Gold [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1584004
Comments: 4
Kudos: 81





	1. The really REALLY bad first draft of Kakashi Interlude

**Author's Note:**

> So, here it is, as mentioned in the main story! My first attempt at writing Kakashi’s interlude, complete with Gai! (which, according to my roomie, is the only decent part of this entire thing). Warnings for OOC Kakashi, OOC Sasuke, Gai’s name spelled Guy, and a Naruto who doesn’t spazz out half as much as he should! And, of course, absolutely no Natsu whatsoever.
> 
> But seriously, listening to my roommate go from groaning in pain to cracking UP laughing like a madman when Gai introduced himself… 100% of the reason I’m posting this despite its awfulness. Really though, my secret is just that I have a friend who is Gai without the spandex. Very easy to channel~
> 
> Thank you for reading!

When Minato-sensei said ‘a teacher begins to learn something new as soon as he meets his students’, Kakashi doesn’t think this is quite what he meant. He’s terribly relieved to have a chance to just _process_ , away from Inoichi and… Natsu, and if he takes a long, circuitous route toward Sasuke’s home, well, who would know? Or waste their breath complaining even if they did… heh.

He pulls out a book as he walks, flipping pages idly without reading them - he knows this one cover to cover, but Jiraya-sama has been taking a while with the next instalment. Peoples’ reactions, however, are as hilarious as always.

_Maybe I can make Inoichi be the one to break the news to Naruto, tomorrow morning. Maybe I should make a bet with him? See if Naruto picks a fight with Sasuke or Natsu first?_

_Hmm… Sasuke, I think. He wouldn’t want to hurt Sakura-chan after all._

_Now how to get Inoichi to take me up on it… Ah-_

“Kakashi, my eternal riva-”

Kakashi extends his arm, and Guy walks straight into his hand. Pushing his… companion behind him, Kakashi determinedly keeps himself relaxed and calm as he continues to wander in the general direction of his destination.

“Ah! So hip and cool! But please, my rival, I must know!”

Kakashi sighs and lowers his book slightly as Guy darts forward to stop in front of him.

“You’re in my way.”

“Ahahaha, so I am! But truly, I must know! I was in the Jonin lounge and heard a most unusual rumor!” Guy strikes a pose and Kakashi bites back a groan, moving to sidestep the green-clad man. Guy walks backwards, arms still extended in his… unusual position, as he keeps steadily in front of his self-proclaimed rival.

Kakashi sighs, and stops. 

“Fine, if it will make you go away. What rumor have you heard now, Guy?”

“So cold!” Guy cries dramatically. Seeing Kakashi’s dwindling patience, he hastily stops and gets to the point.

“My rival! On this most stupendous of days, I heard a magnificent rumor! That you, who have long been my rival in all things, have once more followed in my footsteps, to become my rival in teaching! Let me be the first to congratulate you on your new team!”

“Inoichi beat you to it.” Kakashi lies, nearly on reflex, and he takes no small amount of pleasure in the despair that coats his companion’s face.

“NOOOOOOOO! That my rival would receive his first congratulations in his steps to becoming a teacher from someone other than myself?! I will run twenty laps around Konoha on my hands to make it up to you, my rival!” Guy flashes an obnoxious thumbs-up, quickly bolting towards the outskirts of the city.

Kakashi groans in relief. Sweet silence at last.

“I thought Guy was still out on a mission…” the jonin muses, book vanishing as he settles his hands in his pockets. “Well. Nothing to do about it now… Should probably get on with speaking to the brats before he decides to double-back and challenge me to something…”

It takes only a few minutes to get to the Uchiha complex once he decides to go there. There’s… always something eerie about walking through those empty streets and houses, when he can’t help but wonder how many of the dead were people Obito knew, were they the ones who gave him grief, or the ones he’d talk about every time they so much as smiled at him? He was so out of place, in the Uchiha clan…

He finds Sasuke quickly, which may well be for the best, with how the ghosts of his dead press about him in the wandering paths of the Uchiha properties.

_Not that they restrict their hauntings to this place, though…_

“...Sensei.”

Kakashi grins widely under his mask, basking in the sudden narrowing of his student’s eyes.

“Would you like to guess why I’m here?” he offers brightly, and Sasuke opens his mouth to respond.

Only to close it a moment later, grimacing. Kakashi waits him out, and the black-haired boy eventually chooses his words.

“To… tell me the results of the test.” He all but spits out, and Kakashi tilts his head and considers.

_Hmm… what’s got you in a snit, Sasuke-kun?_

“Well! It took you long enough to figure it out-” Kakashi smothers a laugh at the horrified fury on Sasuke’s face, continuing before the Uchiha can say anything, “but yes, you’re quite correct. Team 7 has been provisionally passed, as due to unique outside interference, the results are considered to be slightly tainted - we’ll have a meeting at the bridge 8 am tomorrow morning to discuss that in more detail - and as such, Team 7 will be undergoing additional training to make certain you are actually ready to become genin of Konoha.”

Sasuke’s eyes narrow sharply at the ‘provisional’ Kakashi threw in there, but he surprisingly keeps his silence. “This about Sakura then?”

Kakashi nods easily, not all that surprised. Sasuke _did_ spend quite a bit of time alone with Natsu, and that boy has a rather distinct personality. “Ah, well it’s a little more complicated than you think, but yes, essentially. You’ll have a chance to ask questions tomorrow before training. Yamanaka Inoichi will be there as well, so please do be on time.”

Offering a wide smile designed to show just how aware he was of the hypocrisy, Kakashi shunshins out of the complex before Sasuke can respond.

“Maaa, now for the hard one…”

_If only his concern for Sakura was all I had to deal with…_

Naruto is clearly inside, when Kakashi reaches his apartment building. The jonin navigates to the back stairwell, taking his time walking up them - and still ending up at Naruto’s (Minato’s son!) door.

He refuses to let himself hesitate, lifting his hand and knocking immediately, and Naruto throws open the door so quickly Kakashi knows he must have been waiting for it.

“Sensei!”

The blond jumps on him before he can say so much as a word. “How’s Sakura-chan, is she alright, you took her to the hospital did they fix her is she here-”

“Maa, Naruto-kun, if you don’t give me time to answer, I might think you don’t want to know.”

The blond shuts his mouth so sharply he bites his tongue, and Kakashi snorts a laugh as he lets himself into the apartment.

He finds a seat, shifting a pile of scrolls off it, and Naruto is _still_ pressing his lips together so tightly Kakashi wonders if they’re in danger of being bitten off. The jonin bites back another laugh, and nods at Naruto to take a seat.

The boy does, and suddenly he has to _talk_.

_...careful what you wish for Kakashi. His chatter would be preferable right now._

“First, Naruto-kun, I need to inform you that Team 7 has passed their genin exam.”

“Wait, all three of us?!” Naruto blurts out, then immediately slams his hands over his mouth. Kakashi does laugh, that time.

“Regrettably, yes. I’d have _preferred_ only having two brats to keep an eye on, but I suppose after some review, it was only fair to pass all three of you.” It’s only half a lie, which Kakashi thinks is pretty impressive, but with the look Naruto is giving him, he realizes it’s not enough.

“If you’re worried about Sakura-chan…” the sensei trails off as Naruto perks up in expectation. What _could_ he say about Sakura that wouldn’t upset Naruto even more come tomorrow? “Well. She’ll also be on your team still, but for now we’ll be having a meeting at 8 am at the bridge to discuss exactly what happened during the test. Yamanaka Inoichi and one other person will be there to help explain things. Anything else you need to know?”

“Y-you didn’t say whether she was alright.”

Kakashi bites back a groan. “She’s alive. But I’m afraid, until the meeting tomorrow, I can’t say anything more.”

Naruto shifts uncomfortably on his chair, before jumping up to pace. Kakashi watches in idle interest, until the blond comes to a stop and looks at him. “Did Sakura-chan… really not know who I was?”

Kakashi sighs, offering the blond a shrug. “Had no idea who I was either, so don’t feel too left out over there.”

Naruto bites at his lip, before groaning and dropping to sit on the floor. “You’re not going to tell me anything at all!” he all but shouts, pointing accusingly. 

Kakashi smiles. “Maa, so you realized?” Standing up, he brushes himself off as though he were dirty, making exaggerated movements as he does so. Naruto doesn’t react, and the sensei all but sweatdrops at the wasted effort. “We’re having a meeting tomorrow about this, I’m not going to just say it all twice. Anyway, I have somewhere to be, so ja ne.”

Kakashi jumps out the window before anything more can be said, and he chuckles as Naruto’s outraged shout echoes behind him.

Now, the real question is… if he walks really slowly, will Inoichi go in without him and spare him the trouble?

Hmm…

Only one way to find out.


	2. The Chapter 13 First Draft!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, since this is pretty much my ‘bad first draft’ dump, over here on AO3, I figured maybe I’d stick some of my other bad first drafts in here. Maybe one day this’ll be used for something else eventually, but for now, here’s the original draft of Chapter 13, before I scrapped and rewrote it to what you saw in the actual fic! Only got a page down before I realized it just wasn’t working and I would have better luck redoing it.
> 
> Yep, I’m the kind of person who keeps my first drafts when I decide to rewrite, just in case – or, more honestly, just because I can’t bring myself to delete anything I’ve written because EVEN WHEN IT SUCKS I PUT SO MUCH HEART INTO IT HOW COULD I EVER JUST CTRL+A BACKSPACE.
> 
> So enjoy. Or not, really. Cause obviously, these bad first-drafts don’t even get seen by my beta readers so they’re pretty crap. Last time was an exception since I actually FINISHED that one, only for my roommie/alpha-reader to go WHAT THE FLUCK? And say no, that sucks, go redo it. She’s smarter than I am, honestly.
> 
> ...and yes, I am doing this purely because chapter 18 is giving me a little bit of writer's block. Procrastination, thy name is Clena.

Those words were _cursed_ and Natsu regrets ever thinking them. He should know better by now! Never, ever, _ever_ say any variation of ‘how bad can it be’ or ‘couldn’t get any worse’ because it will always get worse!

Natsu is fairly certain he’s bleeding more from cat-scratches than he was from that stupid teamwork exercise! He feels a bit like a jerk for making Naruto carry the cat back to the missions desk, but the blond heals crazy-fast and Natsu would like to still have arms by the end of the day… Naruto doesn’t complain, just holds on to the hell-born furball like his life depends on it.

Even Sasuke looks mildly sympathetic, and if that’s not a sign of how bad things were Natsu doesn’t know what could be.

Kakashi is _whistling_. Natsu thinks the closest all three of them have been to true teamwork is the way they all mutually hate the man calling himself their sensei right now. He wonders if Kakashi does it on purpose, trying to unite them through mutual hatred because it definitely seems to be working out that way. Sasuke and Natsu were nearly _synchronized_ in their attack, when they lunged at the sensei after he ‘accidentally’ stepped on a stick and startled the cat _just when they’d managed to corner it_.

Just thinking about it makes Natsu snarl, glaring at the man’s back, and Sasuke’s eyes narrow. He deliberately slides his glance in a way Natsu is pretty sure means _‘want to back-attack him?’_ and he’s never been more on board with one of Sasuke’s plans in all the short time he’s known the kid. He steps a little to the side, nodding slightly, give them enough room to maneuver--

Kakashi spins around, clapping his hands together once. “So, my cute little minions!” Natsu twitches, and Kakashi continues quickly. “Please remember to be on your best behavior, Tora is the Daimyo’s wife’s cat, and she’s been very worried for his safety. Ne~?”

The way Sasuke’s face painfully crawls towards forced blankness tells Natsu that whatever this Daimyo is, they must be pretty important. Naruto doesn’t look like he cares, though admittedly the blond has a near-constipated look on his face as he tries to get a better grip on the cat without giving it a chance to escape, so perhaps he wasn’t even listening.

Kakashi spins back around and resumes their trek toward the administration building, leaving enough space between himself and them that Natsu knows, just _knows_ , that somehow Kakashi knew what Sasuke and him were planning.

* * *

The day really doesn’t improve from there. ‘Supposedly’, they caught Tora surprisingly quickly - the third-fastest catch ever recorded (one hour and twenty-three minutes!) - but Natsu’s not sure if he believes them.

Whether it’s the average of two hours it takes to catch the cat, or the fact that first-place was a 7-minute catch that he doesn’t believe, Natsu isn’t sure. He just doesn’t believe them. Or maybe it’s just hard to believe the cat escapes enough that they’ve started _ranking_ the genin teams by how fast they catch it. Surely it’d make more sense to hire the shinobi to build some escape-proof place for the cat, instead of wasting money constantly hiring them to catch it? When he points that out to Kakashi, the man just hustles them to the next job (grocery shopping, _why_ ) blatantly refusing to answer.

Natsu smells a conspiracy.

He wonders if it’s related to the Naruto-conspiracy, or if yami guilds in general are just full of conspiracies that aren’t necessarily related.

Whatever it may be, he’s almost _relieved_ to return to the still-somewhat-uncomfortable peace of Sakura-chan’s home. No one’s there when he arrives, but Sakura-chan’s bedroom window is still unlocked, so he scales the wall and slips in, shutting it behind him.


	3. Interlude Haruno's Quickly-Scrapped First Attmept!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! The finished version of Interlude IV: Haruno hasn’t been posted yet, but here’s the draft that I canceled. I wrote this last week, cause I was planning to give you guys both Interlude Tora and Haruno, but being sick isn’t conductive to good writing and in the end you only got Tora. Anyway, I decided that Interlude Haruno just didn’t work from Natsu’s POV, and I needed to do it from Mebuki’s instead, so that’s why this was scrapped without much being written.

Mebuki grips Natsu’s hand tight enough to hurt, as Inoichi runs through handsigns. Apparently it’s easier to pull someone into someone else’s mind if there’s skin-to-skin contact, according to Inoichi. 

It only takes the blond a couple seconds to finish the signs, halting on the final seal, and there’s a _pull_. In just a handful of moments, Natsu finds himself standing in the clearing he normally lands in (though, is it normal when he’s ended up somewhere else as many times as he’s ended up here?), Mebuki’s hand still linked with his, Inoichi standing some distance away.

Sakura-chan’s mother turns to look at him, after a moment, and freezes in surprise.

“You… don’t look at all like I expected.”

Natsu laughs a bit. “Heh, really? What’d you expect?”

She steps back, looking him up and down a bit. “I… don’t really know. I suppose I just imagined Sakura, but more boyish… but you’re just completely different, even though your hair’s the same shade.”

Natsu throws his hands behind his head and smiles. “Heh, yeah, it’s nice that much is the same at least. Not a lot of people have pink hair, so… I don’t feel like a completely different person, when I can look and know my hair hasn’t changed much. But you came here to see Sakura-chan, so you should probably go talk to her! I know she misses you guys…”

Mebuki-san jolts a little. “Yes! Let’s go!”

Natsu nods, turning to lead the way, and Inoichi falls into step behind him. They’re just onlookers, after all.

The cabin comes into view with deceptive speed, and Natsu spies a flash of pink at the normal window. 

“Ah, Sakura-chan’s already there! I wonder if she knows you’re here?” he offers, glancing at Mebuki, and the woman bolts forward, crying her daughter’s name.

Natsu stops, already too close for his own comfort as he _hears_ Mebuki slam into the window, desperately shoving her fingers into the crack at the bottom.

Sakura-chan bursts into loud sobs, crying ‘kaa-san!’ over and over again.


	4. That One Poor Attempt to Write Drunk That Really Didn't Work Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you that, for some reason, read this story file (some people keep kudos-ing it???), enjoy my first attempt at Chapter 25! I spent all last weekend trying to write, and failing miserably, so Sunday night I decided to get drunk and see if THAT helped.  
> I learned that Tequila and Dr. Pepper is an awful combo that should never be had, and got 200 words of crap. Luckily, Monday's writing went much better and gave us the actual chapter, but this got scrapped.
> 
> Unique thing about this attempt at a chapter, I actually had a plan for how it would go! But Natsu felt too OOC so I started over and we ended up with something completely different.
> 
> The original plan was to actually write out a fight scene - this chapter would have been split between Kakashi and Natsu POVs, so we'd get to see a bit of the Kakashi vs Zabuza fight as well as the Natsu and Sasuke vs Haku. Natsu *wouldn't* have actually used his fire to break Haku's mirrors, being stuck inside them with Sasuke meant Haku never gave him the time he needed, and would have instead not used it at all this chapter, which would have ended with Naruto's arrival.  
> An entirely different sort of cliffhanger than what I ended up with in the official version.  
> Obviously, my plan's gone a little sideways, because the attempt to write this chapter out based on my original start just didn't work, and once I started writing the second draft it just flowed - whoosh whoosh!! Didn't even have a chance to think about my original chapter plot.
> 
> Anyway! For those of you who read my 'bad first drafts' collection, enjoy! Or not. It's like, 211 words. There's really not much TO enjoy.  
> Meant to put this up the same time I put up chapter 25 but kept getting lazy and forgetting.

“Are you sure it’s okay to just… leave him behind like that?” Natsu asks, between mouthfuls of ration bar. 

Kakashi hums. “He’s exhausted… I’m glad he finally figured out the exercise, but it’s better to let him sleep it off. Either there will be no fight today, and we’ll be spared his boredom, or there will be a fight, in which case… maa, better not to take him into one exhausted.”

Natsu meets Sasuke’s eyes behind Kakashi’s back, and wonders if that has anything to do with the red flecks that appear in Naruto’s chakra when he uses enough of it.

Asking Kakashi will get him nowhere, he knows, and the Dragon Slayer mournfully goes back to eating his ration bar.

“So why aren’t _we_ still training, and letting a clone do this like before, anyway?” Sasuke asks, and- wow, rude much? The client is standing _right there_ -

Kakashi sighs, looking up to the sky. “Maa, Sasuke-kun, I just had a feeling is all.”

Sasuke grunts, as Natsu laces his fingers behind his head, chewing the last of his second breakfast.

His left arm twinges a little at the motion, but it doesn’t hurt anymore, and he grins at the sensation. _Good enough to fight with is good enough for me!_


	5. That One Time in Wandering Fairies Where I Learned Happy POV is Hard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a rough draft from Wandering Fairies, for a change. While I had a lot of story-boarding for Zeref-as-Itachi, I actually already had some pre-writ Happy-as-Akamaru (the rest of this chapter was gonna segue into Zeref-Itachi), so I figured I'd throw it up here. This was my very first time trying to write Happy's POV, and it was so HARD. So that's why I didn't quite get to Zeref's part, cause I just couldn't make Happy work...
> 
> Obviously, with Zeref being Kiba now in Wandering, this is completely thrown out as compliant. So, enjoy if you wanna I guess! Even when I go back to write my Zeref-Itachi as a one-shot, I'm not gonna re-do Happy or anyone, it'll just be Zeref. Thanks for reading!

“...okay? Please be okay, I’m sorry, I’m sorry buddy just get up-!”

“I-is he ah-alright?”

Happy groans, eyes scrunched closed. “Natsu?” he calls, because the last thing he remembers is the dragon, and none of the people he can smell are anything like his friends but maybe they’re just further away…

There’s a loud gasp, and a girl begins to stutter. “W-was that… his first word?”

“Natsu, a word representing the season of summer. Perhaps it was heat exhaustion that caused Akamaru’s untimely collapse?” Someone responds, and their voice is rattly, somehow. Happy’s brows scrunch in confusion.

“Akamaru? Buddy? Are you alright? How’re you feeling, here I’ve got water-”

Happy gets the feeling they’re talking to him, though why they keep calling him such a weird name is a bit beyond him at the moment… he tries to push himself up, but his legs feel like jelly, and Happy flops back into the dirt.

The voices above him start panicking, and one of them calls out loudly - Happy’s ears ring, and he whimpers, pressing his paws over them. Something doesn’t feel right, but he can’t quite place what’s wrong.

The voices get louder and more panicked, and it  _ hurts _ \- someone grabs him, gravity pulling his paws fall away from his ears and Happy tries to summon his wings, fly up and away from the noise, but when he grabs his magic everything--

_ Shifts _ .

* * *

“Oof!”

Happy pushes himself to his feet, rubbing at his head.


	6. Naps Make Chapters Better, News At 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took two tries, but I finished chapter 27 today~! Once it gets through my beta-reader, I’ll throw it up! Likely tomorrow evening, as she and I are both, unfortunately, essential enough to keep working (or fortunately, take your pick – at least we still get paychecks I guess).  
> Honestly what happened with this chapter is I tried to write, but all I wanted to do was sleep, so I took an hour nap, came back, and decided to start over again from the beginning. So here’s three paragraphs of my first attempt for you!  
> (and I’ll be honest you guys, once I started actually writing the conversation, Natsu just sorta took over and it just CAME OUT. I’m really satisfied with it, which is so freaking rare. I’m never satisfied with my own work. Hopefully you guys like it as much as I do, once it's posted!)  
> As always, thanks for reading!

Standing around, waiting for the bridge to be finished was  _ boring _ . Especially when there was no reason to stay, because Gato was dead and there was no more threat to Wave, and Kakashi wouldn’t even let them  _ train _ .

It might have been worth it, though. Because it occurs to Natsu, as they head out from the small village, that a completed bridge means he _doesn’t have to ride in a boat_.

It’s almost enough to make him cry, as he walks across the bridge and watches the water lap underneath it. Silently, he promises not to blow up any more bridges as he skips across. Bridges are _great_.

Perhaps the only _great_ thing about their journey back to Konoha.

Somehow, despite _not_ having a slow old man in tow, it still takes them longer to get back than it did to get to Wave in the first place. Naruto gets quieter the closer they get, and Natsu would really just like to sit down and talk to him, but he’s all too eager to listen to Kakashi, refusing to talk about anything serious until after they get back to Konoha.


	7. I Tried So Hard! And Got (not) So Far!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 800 words of scrap! I’m moving up in the world! Beta reader is almost done with the final version, so chapter 28 should be up shortly.  
> Seriously tho you guys have no idea how much this chapter hated me, that’s why you’re getting it practically 11 pm on Tuesday instead of, you know, my sorta-normal 9 pm Monday uploads.  
> *sigh*  
> I did so good for a while there.

Natsu chokes on his noodles at Iruka-sensei’s words, and Naruto’s hand freezes over his ramen for the second time.

_ Wha-? How did he know?! _

Naruto scrambles mentally, trying to think back to everything Natsu said, but he doesn’t know what could have tipped sensei off at all!

Natsu chuckles nervously, trying to wave off the question. “D-don’t be ridiculous, w-who else would I be…?”

Naruto wants to drop his head onto the counter.

_He couldn’t be less like Sakura-chan if he **tried** , dattebayo…_

Iruka-sensei gives them all a severe look, and crosses his arms. Naruto scrambles for something to say, maybe he can distract sensei into forgetting…?

Sasuke answers, setting down his bowl for a moment, and Naruto gapes at him cause  _has he been eating this whole time?! Was he not even surprised?_

“Yamanaka-san spoke to our team a month ago, outside of Team 7 only the Hokage and Sakura’s parents know. It’s being handled.”

Sasuke goes right back to his ramen, as though his words didn’t drop something cold in Naruto’s stomach.

It’s so easy to forget, when they’re training together, and going on missions, and stuff, but Natsu doesn’t _belong_ here. That Yamanaka guy even said, back during that first team meeting after the test, that they were trying to find a way to help Natsu get back home and bring Sakura-chan back, and Naruto never _forgot_ , because he misses Sakura-chan, and he definitely wants her to come back, but when Sasuke says, “It’s being handled,” somehow Naruto realizes that having Sakura-chan back means Natsu leaving.

For good.

Natsu, who just looked him in the eye and said it was wrong that people put the kyuubi in him, who just looked him in the eye and said that Naruto did his best and didn’t blame him at all even though Naruto hurt him, hurt both his teammates.

Even Sasuke said it wasn’t his fault, and Naruto knows he wasn’t lying but that’s just-

He wants Sakura-chan back, but he doesn’t want Natsu to leave because Natsu is Team 7 too!

“I’m afraid I can’t accept that, Sasuke-kun,” Iruka says, and Naruto jerks his head up, pulled from his thoughts.

Iruka stares at them with his teacher’s, ‘talk now or _everyone_ gets detention,’ glare, and Naruto gulps, quickly glancing around, but no one’s close at all ‘cept for Teuchi-jii, and… it’s _Iruka-sensei_. Naruto nods firmly, and quickly drains his bowl of ramen. Then he gives his teacher the brightest grin he can.

“That guy, Ino-chan’s dad? Said something ‘bout Natsu using a jutsu that exploded, and made his soul get stuck in Sakura-chan’s body. It happened during our genin test with Kakashi-sensei, but we were told not ta let anyone know about it… He’s totally cool I promise! Even _Sasuke_ likes him-”

“Hn.”

Naruto ignores the feeling of death glaring into the back of his head, though he can’t quite keep from rubbing as he smiles sheepishly at Iruka, “Well, tolerates maybe. But Natsu’s got special lessons for those weird mind-jutsu the Yamanaka use, so they can try and help fix it, I guess, ehehehe…”

Iruka raises an eyebrow at them, slowly looking at all of them until his gaze comes to rest on Natsu. The pinkette - _whose hair is just as pink in his real body, maybe he’s Sakura-chan’s secret brother! -_ grins a little, shamelessly shoving more ramen in his mouth.

Iruka sighs. “Is Sakura-chan alright?”

Natsu slurps up a couple more bites of noodles as he shrugs. “Bored as bored gets, but she’s not hurt or anything! I haven’t really had a chance to talk to her since that first fight in Wave, so I probably should… I know she gets lonely but Inoichi-san keeps sayin’ stuff about how I’m not clan and how it’s bad for me to dive into our mindscape every single day, though I don’t really get _how_ … and it’s stupid! Cause he showed me how to help other people come into the mindscape with me, so Sakura-chan’s parents could talk to her, but I’m not allowed to let Naruto even though he misses her too! And no one ever said why!”

Naruto stares at his teammate. “Uh… it-it’s cause of the kyuubi? Sometimes I end up in my own mindscape, and the Kyuubi’s always there, so it probably isn’t safe for Sakura-chan…”

Natsu shrugs, completely careless. “Tch. If they forcibly trapped the demon inside you then there’s no way a simple mind-projection jutsu would release it. He’s prob’ly just scared to try. But he made me promise I wouldn’t…”

“Yamanaka-san is a master of his family’s techniques. If he feels it’s too dangerous, I’d trust his opinion.” Iruka says gently, looking between Natsu and Naruto.

Natsu glares a bit, then turns back to his ramen, slurping loudly.

*** - pov switch because this isnt fucking working - ***

Kakashi sighs, perched on a roof across the street as he watches his students stumble over explanations, Umino Iruka and chefs of Ichiraku listening raptly.


	8. Tidbits and Other AUs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got bored waiting for the weekend to hit and decided to scoop together all the little writing things that I've mentioned in the comments of various chapters for anyone interested.  
> Featuring, my justification for Erza-Zeref Crackship and some snippits of Zeref backstory in my Dragons AU (unposted)

**The Zeref-Erza Crackship**

It started as a joke, see? One day I was just like, "What if Zeref were as afraid of Erza as Natsu is? Like, they just bond over being terrified of Erza?"

  
It was a funny, cracky premise that is, of course, completely ridiculous. And that's all it was for a while. But, insidiously, it grew. Bits and pieces at a time. Erza finding out Zeref was avoiding her in battle so she hunts him down, only for him to like, hide behind the nearest minion, and at first she just brushes it off as classic villain cowardice but then something starts to look strangely *familiar* about how he runs from her, and the first time she catches him with a dead body, he just instinctively hugs it or something like, "I TOTALLY DID NOT KILL THIS MAN!!!!!!" and Erza realizes that yes, it really DOES look familiar, because it looks EXACTLY LIKE NATSU WHEN HE KNOWS HE'S IN TROUBLE.

  
And Erza's all like...? Because why is Zeref, the immortal, the father of demons, one of the most powerful mages IN THE WORLD acting like a scared kid about to get scolded into submission? (and of course, she discounts the similarity to Natsu, because no one knows that yet)

  
And Zeref of course, is just scrambling to Not Be Evil any time Erza is nearby, cause he's just irrationally *terrified* of her, and I dunno man. It's just a hilarious crackship that sorta endgames with Erza being, absolutely, the one wearing the pants in the relationship, and I have this silly mental image of a Magic Council member bursting into Fairy Tail like, "Lady Scarlet! The Black Wizard is causing trouble up in the capitol please, do something!" And Erza sighs, puts down her drink, marches up to the capitol/whatever city Zeref has ended up in *this* time, and just glares.

  
Zeref sheepishly shows up after a moment, holding out an infamous criminal as a peace offering, with like, a kicked puppy expression going, "I didn't kill him? B-but I might have blown up a few buildings..."  
And this poor criminal is terrified out of his mind and more than willing to do whatever Erza says if it gets him away from the fucking BLACK WIZARD, so the Magic Council arrests him, and start staring nervously at Zeref, but Erza just waves them off with a deep sigh, like, "I got this. Get out of here."

  
And Zeref just blanches because annoyed Erza is Dangerous Erza, so he hastily pulls out a perfectly in-tact box and is like, "I got you some cake too? From the specialty shop the next city over-"  
And then Erza snatches it away, with the Magic Council staring on in stupified wonder as Zeref breathes a sigh of relief behind her.

  
The day Erza finds out Zeref and Natsu are related, she just looks at him and is like, "I should have known. Only a Dragneel can be so ridiculous. I'm not adopting him."

  
"Wha-? Why would you adopt-?"

  
"Even if he's your son, we are *NOT* that kind of relationship. Are we clear?"

  
"S-son-? Son? Wha- Natsu isn't- he's not my-" (Zeref, a stuttering terrified mess as he tries to tell Erza she's wrong)

  
(Erza raises an eyebrow)

  
Zeref, whispering: He-he's sort of my time-travelling brother?

  
Erza, deadpan: What?

  
Zeref, even quieter: m-my brother?

  
Erza turns and walks off immediately. A few moments later, Natsu starts screaming in terror.

  
Zeref, remorseful: I'm sorry otouto. I can't save you from this threat.

  
(Zeref immediately runs away to buy cake - maybe if he gets enough of it, and takes long enough, Erza will have calmed down)

  
(Erza has NOT calmed down)

  
(Zeref drops off the cake and teleports away, hiding on the other side of the continent until someone tells him it's safe)

  
(...Erza hunts him down and drags him back to the guild hall, locks him in a closet with Natsu, and tells them to make up or she'll MAKE them make up)

  
(Zeref is still utterly terrified of her, but that's about the time he thinks he maybe, possibly, might be falling in love with her too)

  
(he makes the next cake himself from scratch)

  
(Erza asks where he bought it because no one thinks he can cook, but he's four hundred years old and he's picked up a few things over the centuries, of *course* he knows how to cook!)

  
(He doesn't tell her that though)

  
(Just says it was given to him)

  
(she assumes he stole someone else's cake)

  
(Zeref thinks he might have been better off admitting he made it)

  
(but he's terribly afraid of being locked in a kitchen as her cake-baking slave if he admits to it)

  
(so he goes along with her idea of him being a cake thief)

  
(and so my glorious crack-ship of Dom!Erza and Sub!Zeref is born)

  
(except it's surprisingly non-sexual. Zeref's just a scaredy-cat)

  
(Natsu tries to tease him for it once)

  
(Zeref tricks him into starting a fight with Gray just as Erza comes back from a job)

  
(Natsu's not a complete idiot)

  
(He never teases Zeref about it again)

So yeah! The glorious birth of my Zeref-Erza crackship! It's practically mini-fic in the comments now, it wasn't supposed to be THAT long, but seriously, I have a whole little cracky universe in my head dedicated to this ship and premise. Depending on my mood, I'll sometimes accept this crackship as having Jellal in it as a three-some, other times he'll be sulking because Zeref-sama stole his girlfriend, and still other times he and Ultear will happily watch the train wreck together, clinking glasses with sunglasses and large hats on as they watch Zeref run away from Erza as though *she* were a demon.

I really don't know if any of you guys wanted to know that, but look. I JUST REALLY LOVE MY CRACKSHIP. THE WORLD DESERVES TO KNOW OF MY CRACKSHIP. I WILL TAKE ANY OPPORTUNITY TO TALK ABOUT MY GLORIOUS CRACKSHIP. ALL HAIL THE ULTIMATE CRACKSHIP, ZEREF AND ERZA FOREVER!!  
ZERZAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

* * *

**Some Dragons AU Zeref Backstory**

Zeref finds that while his demons aren't powerful enough to kill him, he also finds that because he made them from his own magic, they can't be killed by the curse. He starts trying to make them more intelligent, so that he can have friends, and the first one he considers a success is Zephyr - a demon-wolf who has a habit of killing people by accident (anyone with spiky black hair, if Zeref isn't around, Zephyr will try and play with them mistaking them for his creator, and kills them by accident - he's also very large, and has a tendency to step on houses and crush people)

  
Zeref loves his demon wolf, and while he never stays in one place long, he and Zephyr have an agreement to meet in the field Zeref created him in once a year (they do hang out more often than that, but Zeref is still researching and trying to break his curse, so sometimes he goes places a giant wolf demon just can't).

  
However, during an investigation of an ancient ruin, Zeref triggers a trap. He gets trapped for seven years in the ruin, and Zephyr gets more and more upset as his creator stops showing up. At first, he stays in the clearing and waits, but after two whole years pass and Zeref doesn't show up to play with him, he decides to go looking for his creator.

  
He goes to all the places he knows Zeref says are too small for him, and ends up destroying lots of cities and killing lots of people as he desperately looks for Zeref. Eventually, the magic council lays a trap for Zephyr and successfully kills him.  
Zephyr's first and last actual human word is Father.

  
When Zeref finally gets free of the trap and goes looking for his favorite demon and learns what happened, he goes on a rampage and absolutely *decimates* the forces of the Magic Council, and then gathers up all the pieces of Zephyr's body they'd harvested to give him a proper funeral.

  
Zeref never actually learns that Zephyr spoke a human word. Or that he'd called him father.

  
I mean, if Zeref weren't already massively suicidal learning that would have made him, so it's probably for the best.

  
But after that day, Zeref actually begins to make good on his accidentally-earned reputation as an evil wizard, and will occasionally and deliberately attack the magic council.

  
He refuses to forgive them, and even after he finds Natsu again and the curse gets broken, he still sabotages council missions and kills council members.

There's a whole arc about Fairy Tail trying to figure out why Zeref has such a grudge against the Magic Council.

  
When it essentially boils down to 'they killed my dog' the guild is torn between "thats so extreme" and "I mean, that's totally fair". Zeref doesn't give a shit that it's been two hundred years, or Fairy Tail's opinion on the matter. The Magic Council killed Zephyr and he is determined to never forgive them, despite logically knowing everyone involved in the killing is dead.

  
Mostly because he killed them himself.

When I first started constructing my FT AU, and decided that as part of Zeref's backstory, I cried. Like. Just imagining Zephyr happily bounding up to any pale, black-haired guy and nosing them, to see if they're Zeref, only to be disappointed every time, and to keep looking and looking and *looking*-

  
fuck im crying again

  
LOOK IT HAD ALREADY BEEN CANON TO MY AU THAT ALL OF ZEREF'S DEMONS WERE DEAD BY THE START OF THE STORY AND SO WHEN I INVENTED ZEPHYR, AFTER MY AU'S CANON WAS ALREADY DECIDED, AND REALIZED THAT HE HAD TO DIE-!!! *sobs pathetically*

  
AND ZEREF JUST LIKE. FINALLY CLAWS HIS WAY FREE OF THIS GOD-AWFUL TRAP AND GOES LOOKING FOR ZEPHYR ONLY TO FIND OUT HE'S JUST A COUPLE MONTHS TOO LATE. MONTHS. AND I HATED MYSELF FOR INVENTING ZEPHYR, BECAUSE IF I'D NEVER INVENTED HIM HE'D NEVER HAVE HAD TO DIE AND I HONESTLY CONSIDERED RETCONNING MY CANON TO MAKE ZEPHYR LIVE BECAUSE IT WAS TOO CRUEL AND ITS NOT LIKE THE FIC HAS BEEN WRITTEN BUT I COULDN'T QUITE BRING MYSELF TO DO THAT BUT ZEPHYR WAS TOO GOOD-!!!

Like. Zeref had other reasons to hate the magic council before Zephyr, because Zephyr didn't get invented til a couple months into my brainstorming for the AU, but once I *did* invent him it just like... gave Zeref even more reason to hate the council because unless I wanted to retcon the backstory I'd already been painstakingly building in my head, he had to die before the official 'start' of the story.  
ZEPHYR IM SORRY YOU WERE SUCH A GOOD BOY!!!


	9. Demons and Monsters Outtake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another outtake from Wandering Fairies, I decided I didn't want Kiba and Sakura to meet like this - Zeref deserves at least a little bit more time to acclimate before he gets dragged into a meeting with his brother, so this was scrapped!
> 
> Next Wandering Fairies chapter will be up shortly, and the next Girl's Mind chapter will be up in ~5 hours, it's done, and I'm just waiting on my roommate to give it a go-over.

Kurenai-sensei escorts him to the Yamanaka flower shop, Shino and Hinata trailing along behind them. It’s a bit odd, feeling someone else’s presence in his head, especially when they seem to be simultaneously trying to catalogue everything they see  _ and _ pulling away as far as they can like they’re afraid to touch him too much.

Pretty Boy doesn’t talk or ask questions, just  _ observes _ in a way that only reinforces Kiba’s belief that he got stuck with some freaky smart person.

He sorta hopes Pretty Boy’s more chill like Shikamaru under all the weird fear, and not like Sasuke.

The world can only handle  _ one _ of that sort of ego!

“Alright. Inoichi-san said to just wait in the back room so-”

“Wait you guys are leaving?” Kiba interrupts, turning to stare at Kurenai-sensei. Hinata shuffles nervously.

“W-we c-can’t stay with Kiba-k-kun?”

Kurenai-sensei sighs. “I know Inoichi-san said this appears to be an accident, and if he’s keeping them in his shop instead of somewhere more secure he must be certain. But even so your families would probably-”

“W-we’re a t-team now! R-right?”

“Yeah!” Kiba adds, settling Akamaru in his jacket to pat Hinata on the shoulder. “Pretty Boy’s harmless, and I’m sure the others are too. What’s there to be afraid of? We’ll just hang out, until Yamanaka-san comes back and fixes this!”

Kurenai sighs, but she smiles a little. “Alright you three. I’m going to go help canvas the village with the others. Stay out of trouble!”


	10. Another Scrap for the Scrap Heap!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My roommate is an absolute GODDESS.  
> I've been stuck on this chapter for AGES.  
> You guys know how long it's been.  
> Probably better than me.
> 
> It wasn't all this chapter of course, a bunch of Real Life stuff slapped me at once and basically made me lose all motivation to write for a while there, but basically I wrote this below segment two days after the interlude and then NOTHING for this fic since.  
> And so today, I tell my roommate I'm stuck, and I explain everything, and she's just like, why don't you just have them do "BLANK". And I was like, nah, that's too complicated, BUUUUUUUUUUUT-!
> 
> And so an idea was born.  
> I love it.  
> And I love her.  
> I KNOW YOU DON'T ACTUALLY READ ANY OF MY POSTED CHAPTERS AND ONLY THE GOOGLE DOCS BUT YOU'RE THE BEST ROOMMATE EVER AND I LOVE YOU!
> 
> Official chapter will be posted tomorrow after my roommate and my beta reader have time to go over it.  
> RIP for the lack of Naruto interaction in it tho.  
> This scrapped version definitely had more Naruto, but that just didn't work out too well once I rewrote everything.  
> But anyway! For those who bother reading my scraps, enjoy! And look forward to the official chapter!  
> Poor Natsu's in so much trouble... his crimes sorta... escalated... in the rewrite.  
> Oops.  
> But it gave me an excuse to worldbuild some Fairy Tail-side stuff, which with this fic mostly taking place in Naruto, I don't get to do nearly often enough for my tastes.  
> May or may not write a crack Fairy Tail oneshot because of it.  
> WE SHALL SEE.

“Naruto-kun.” The Hokage sighs, visibly annoyed.

Natsu won’t admit to being just a little bit relieved.

Annoyed is better than angry, absolutely.

“Shouldn’t you be asleep?” he follows with, and Naruto laughs.

“No way! No one would let me go see ‘em, but it’s not like you guys blindfolded me the first time! So I’ve been sneaking out alot to try and look for the safe-house! And I found ‘em! See?”

Kakashi snickers from behind his book, and Natsu dares to relax a little more.

_ See Sakura-chan? We’re not in  _ **_that_ ** _ much trouble! _

Sakura-chan doesn’t respond, though Natsu’s pretty sure that’s because she can’t actually hear him thinking.

She wouldn’t  _ actually _ ignore him.

Right?

“So you did, Naruto-kun. I wish you had spoken to me first, however.” The Hokage speaks with a level tone that Naruto laughs off again.

“I talked to ‘kashi-sensei, and he said he was talking to you but that you were bein’ stubborn, Jiji! So-”

“I did  _ not _ say that, I said Hokage-sama wanted to wait a little while longer-”

“Same thing! So anyway, it’s your fault for being so slow!”

“I see,” the Hokage starts, before resting his gaze on Natsu, “And I suppose you feel the same?”

Nothing  _ feels _ dangerous, but Natsu’s beginning to think the Hokage puts on a nicer face for Naruto.

He tries not to think about why, because if he gets angry he’s gonna punch the Hokage in the face and then he’ll  _ really  _ be in trouble.

“It’s not like we were tryin’ to  _ run away _ ,” Natsu starts, shrugging. The ANBU tighten their grip in response. “I knew we wouldn’t make it! I just wanted to fight someone who wasn’t Sasuke, in a place that wasn’t that super-tiny excuse of a house! And I really should have done it sooner, cause that was  _ fun _ ! Can we do it again sometime?”

_ “Please no. That was terrifying! They almost  _ **_killed_ ** _ us!” _

“Wha- they did  _ not _ Sakura-chan!” Natsu blurts out, interrupting whatever the Hokage was trying to say. “They were specifically  _ not _ trying to kill us! Couldn’t you tell?”

“The same cannot be said for you.” The ANBU holding Naruto mutters, and Natsu twists as much as he can to look at the guy.

“Huh? I never tried to kill you guys! Since when?”

“You tried. To incinerate us.” one of the ones holding him says, tightening their grip.

“Wha- I did not!” Natsu turns to glare at the ANBU, scowling.

Kakashi interrupts. “Maa, Natsu-kun. No need to get fired up. You tried to light them on fire, ne~?”

“Wha- yeah, just a little. That’s not the same as  _ killing _ someone! They need their heads checked!”

Kakashi sighs, lifting his book a little higher. “Just a misunderstanding then. I thought I had informed Hokage-sama of Natsu’s abilities - his fire doesn’t burn people if he doesn’t let it. I experienced that myself when I ran through the flames to interrupt the fight with Orochimaru. You should have been briefed?”

“He was throwing fire at our  _ faces _ , Hatake-san.” the angry one says, grip still bruise-tight. Natsu rolls his eyes.

“Yeah, that’s cause fire’s  _ bright _ . Even if it’s not gonna burn you at  _ all _ most people still close their eyes when it’s that close! Sometimes ya give it just a liiiiittle bit of heat to it, t’make ‘em uncomfortable - it wasn’t ever gonna hurt you.”

Sasuke smirks, amused, and Natsu tries not to scowl at him and his cheating eyes that don’t flinch to light-

He gives it up as a bad job and bares his teeth at the kid. Sasuke’s smirk widens.

If the ANBU would let go for  _ just one second so he could punch him-! _

“You broke out of the safe-house - destroyed a complex seal matrix that took hours to craft - just to pick a fight with one of my ANBU.” The Hokage states eventually, no inflection to his voice.

“Yep!” Natsu grins shamelessly.

_ “We’re so dead.” _ Sakura-chan moans.

The Hokage sets his pipe down, folding his hands with an air of finality.

* * *


	11. Chapter 41 First Draft

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well here's the first attempt at chapter 41 (or 48, depending on how you count I guess). Mostly it was scrapped because I felt it was a little OOC on Orochimaru's part to just *explain* everything. And a little OOC on Natsu's part to realize everything he DIDN'T explain pretty much immediately.
> 
> Beyond that, I also couldn't figure out how to transition from the mindscape back into Konoha proper, so it ends rather abruptly when I just threw up my hands and gave up, and decided to restart the chapter by skipping the entire mindscape and starting straight with Jiraiya's arrival. Obviously, in the final draft of the chapter, I kept the mindscape, but I pretty much rewrote it entirely and only used this version as a most basic reference.
> 
> Thanks for reading!

“Wha- you mean  _ you’re  _ the reason I keep passing out?”

Sakuni scoffs, shifting to lean against Natsu. Her arms tremble faintly.

“No, that’s the snake guy. And the grouch. A little of both, probably. What I was doing probably just made Sakura-chan tired…”

Sakuni trails off, eyes slipping closed. Natsu glances around.

The path that leads to his own mind is blocked by a wall of fire that flickers different colors at the edges, like a prism scattered a rainbow through the flames. He thinks he glimpses a shadow behind the wall, pacing sinuously.

He and Sakuni sit at the edge of the tree-lined path Natsu knows will lead back from Sakura, though the trees are wilted, and a haze of smoke hangs in the air. A vaguely feminine figure slips through it with a predator’s stalk, heading towards the middle-nothing Natsu once tried to walk down.

Only, as he follows the path with his eyes, he realizes, it’s not longer nothing. 

Gates emblazoned with the Uchiha crest stand tall, cracked open just enough to see a glimpse of blood-spattered cobblestones beyond.

The feminine figure pushes at the gate, trying to open it wider, and Sakuni’s head snaps up with a fury.

“Oh no you don’t!” She yells, leaping forward, and Natsu scrambles after her. She tackles the person, and as Natsu gets closer he realizes it’s some… shadow of that guy who attacked them before.

He rubs at his hand reflexively.

The features of the man, Oro-something, are a bit blurry, like a lot of faces got layered on top of his real one, and Natsu thinks he sees a lot of people, like echoes, there but… not.

The gold eyes are the only part truly clear, a serpent’s gaze filled with contempt.

He pushes Sakuni off with negligent ease, but she stumbles back to her feet with no hesitation.

“We need… to lock him up.” She pants, and the shadow laughs.

“Impossible,” he croons, glancing between Natsu and Sakuni, “Even your precious ancestor will be of no use to you.”

“Huh?” Natsu squints. “Are you crazy? I’m not old enough to be her dad! I  _ met _ her dad, we’re nothing alike! Did you hit your head?”

The shadow snarls, though he gets control of himself. “Of course foolish children like yourselves wouldn’t realize. I, who have studied more of life and death and  _ souls _ than anyone ever dreamed, should not expect you to understand-”

“Explain it then.” Natsu demands, stepping up to the Oro-guy. If he steps in front of Sakuni while he’s at it, well.

She’s so tired.

Oro tilts his head at Natsu, considering. “Perhaps you’d make a deal for it, child?” he says with a twisted smirk, and Natsu shrugs.

“Sure! You tell me why you think I’m her ancestor, and I’ll tell you why you’re wrong!”

“And if I’m right?” Oro asks, voice thick with amusement, though he continues after a moment. “Your soul is too compatible. I make a habit of possessing the bodies of others, to make myself immortal, and I have come to learn quite a bit as a result. Souls can be compatible with bodies in many ways. The closest form of compatibility is always heritage - siblings might actually be terribly  _ in _ compatible, but a parent will always be compatible with their child. And even grand-children and great-grand-children can keep to this. I did not expect the girl to be possessed - how could I, when it is a jutsu I invented myself? But being here, I can tell. You have the sort of compatibility only a family member could possess, but it’s distant. Not within three generations, possibly not even within four. How could you possibly insist I’m wrong?”

“Because I’m from another world!” Natsu blurts, then stops.

Because in Edolas, they had counterparts, right?

And Wendy’s counterpart was even older than her, almost Natsu’s age instead of a kid like Sakura-chan.

So if they can be older or younger in other worlds, then…

Did Natsu actually have a counterpart here?

That wouldn’t make sense though. Right?

Natsu glances between Sakura’s path, and the Oro-guy.

He’s never even  _ thought _ about having kids before, that’s just too  _ weird _ -

“You don’t sound too sure about that,” Oro says, voice silky-smooth.

“Natsu.” Sakuni interrupts, before he can say anything. “We just have to lock him up, stop him from messing with everything. You can’t kill him,” she adds before he can say anything, “he’s not- really  _ here _ , he’s not even really  _ himself _ , he’s just a… fragment, or something. Any attempt to destroy him won’t work unless you can reach his real body-


	12. Chapter 41 Second Draft

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the second attempt, where I considered skipping the mindscape and leaving everyone to wonder what, exactly, Natsu learned from Orochimaru, in order to just throw the story right into the plot again. Especially considering how the plot's been rather dragged out, I thought that maybe if I skipped the mindscape scene and moved past it, I'd kickstart my brain and get the plot going.
> 
> And then I just could. NOT. Figure out. How to make everyone interact. You might notice the first part of this chapter is pretty much word-for-word in the final version, but the second part was scrapped entirely. In the end, I figured it made more sense for Natsu to still be unconscious when Jiraiya arrived.
> 
> Also, one note here, I DO ascribe to the idea that a henge is usually just an illusion but that Naruto, due to the Kyuubi's influence, ACTUALLY transforms physically, especially when he's using Oiroke. It's a somewhat popular idea in fandom, I think, but just wanted to clarify. Honestly lemme just straight up quote the comment I left my roommate when she tried to help me with my block:
> 
> "going with the classic fanon belief that a normal henge is just an illusion, but that Naruto overloads his with so much chakra that it actually becomes a physical transformation (hence turning into a kunai for Sasuke to throw, which we don't really see any other shinobi doing throughout canon that I recall)  
> So basically Jiraiya really DID check to make sure it wasn't a henge, because he certainly did detect one chakra-wise, but when all the 'assets' were physically present, he assumed she was making herself prettier with makeup, or even hiding a scar - especially since she did move like a shinobi.  
> And if she turned out to be a spy, well...  
> I like to think that Jiraiya enjoys 'turning' female spies to his own network if he can."
> 
> ^^thats basically the whole background to the Naruto/Jiraiya interaction and why Jiraiya didn't realize it WAS Naruto.  
> Just in case anyone was curious.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading! Sorry again for taking so long!

Jiraiya arrives a week after Hiruzen gives his order, with all the exuberance the Toad Sanin is known for. He comes to the tower immediately when Hiruzen sends his summons, which should have perhaps been his first warning.

Walking ahead of his student, in a most creative henge, Naruto eagerly ‘shows the stranger around’.

Hiruzen wipes off a bit of blood from his nose surreptitiously. 

He’s pretty sure that can’t even be  _ called _ clothing, and he wonders where Naruto managed to find such… fashion.

Long golden pigtails frame a much more mature figure than Naruto usually uses for his… prank technique, and Hiruzen honestly wonders if his student even realizes who he’s looking at.

The way Jiraiya seems to be legitimately drooling, he thinks he might have his answer.

Jiraiya sweeps Naruto into his lap as he takes a seat. “So, Sensei! What’s the rush?” he asks with a lecherous grin, “because I’ve got some  _ research _ to get back to, if it’s all the same to you.”

“Dispel the henge,” Hiruzen orders, trying not to let exhaustion creep through his voice.

Jiraiya sputters. “Henge? Whaddya’ mean, henge? They’re  _ illusions _ , and trust me, I’ve felt her all up, nothin’ fake here! No need to insult the-”

A puff of smoke cuts him off, and he glances down to stare into Naruto’s foxy grin. “Wow! I got ya’ good, didn’t I, ‘ttebayo!”

Jiraiya freezes, before slowly tracking his eyes up to Hiruzen.

The old man sighs. “Allow me to explain, Jiraiya-san.”

* * *

_ “Wake up.” _ Natsu groans, swiping a hand vaguely.

“M’tired, S’ka-chan…” he slurs, face buried in his pillow. He gets a vague feeling of annoyance.

_ “If I could drag you up right now…” _

“W’ouldn’t b’n th’ mess?” he slurs back, shuffling until he can get the pillow over his head. Sakura-chan sighs at him.

_ “Someone’s cooking food. Can’t you smell it?” _

“Wha?!” Natsu pushes himself up, blearily staring at the wall as he tries to sort through the scents.

_ ANBU came through overnight… along with someone new. _ He muses, picking out Boar’s scent, before he finally catches the hint of curry Sakura-chan must have noticed. He stumbles to the kitchen, and finds Sasuke adding a third tomato to a pan filled with sauce.

Sakura shrieks in incoherent fury, echoed by a second groan.

“Oh! Hi Sakuni!” he says, and Sasuke looks up. “And you, I s’pose. How’d you get in here?”

The Uchiha scoffs.

“Jiraiya of the Sannin came and looked at my seal - apparently he looked at yours too, ANBU said something about him wanting to review everything he’d taken notes on, then look at them both together. Have you eaten  _ anything _ ?”

Natsu shrugs, moving to lean against the counter and watch as Sasuke makes what Sakura-chan calls ‘tomato-sauce with a handful of curry spices’.

Her insults get surprisingly creative.

“When I could get out of bed,” he offers in response to Sasuke’s question. “M’not starving, anyway.”

“Hn.”


	13. Jiraiya Didn't Deserve this Characterization

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My first attempt at chapter 49, from Sasuke's POV. I sorta felt like, with this version, I got a bit too into playing with my sharingan and magic headcanons to the point I bent Sasuke a little OOC just to have fun with it.
> 
> It got scrapped mostly for that, but also partially because I really felt Jiraiya, while not the most respectful man, would have been at least a bit more considerate than he ended up here in this first draft. Honestly his character is SO HARD for me to write, but I feel like each iteration of this chapter he got better and better, so this is by far the worst interpretation of him.
> 
> So yeah, both Sasuke and Jiraiya are feel pretty OOC here, but I DID enjoy my headcanons that got a little explored here.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Draft two to be uploaded in just a second!

Natsu wakes up with no warning. One moment Sasuke’s holding Natsu’s arm at an odd angle so the seal master can mark something down, and in the next Natsu elbows him in the face as he thrashes his way to consciousness, cursing and clutching at his head.

“Wha- hey, the marks are here too?!” Natsu doesn’t even look at them, stretching out his arms and turning them side to side as he tries to study the seal.

“Oho~?” Jiraiya starts, leaning closer to trace fingers over the part of the seal that paints Natsu’s back. Sasuke sees the idiot tense, before slowly glancing over his shoulder, and wonders what  _ that’s _ about. Jiraiya continues with questions. “Could you see the seal in the mindscape? Tell me, did it appear on your avatar, or Sakura-chan’s? Or perhaps on this second personality of Sakura-chan, that I’ve heard about?” 

“Who’re  _ you _ ?” Natsu scowls, twisting himself away from the old man, and Sasuke’s pretty sure  _ that’s _ when the idiot realizes he’s naked.

He proves it a moment later.

“Oi, why am I naked? You some kinda pervert?” he hisses, fire flickering across his hands. As Sasuke watches, the chakra in the strange seal seems to go very still everywhere the fire passes, as though it tries to hide from the flames.

“Now now kid, nothing like that! I like my women with a little more oomph, if you know what I mean!” He makes a crude gesture at his chest with an unsettling grin, before quickly donning a serious face. “But I’m here to take a look at that fancy seal of yours, Hokage’s orders. If you wouldn’t mind.”

“Study Sasuke’s!” Natsu snaps, glaring. “Sakura-chan says that if you wanna look at her naked you have to let her mom in here ‘cause it’s not appropriate!”

“Kid, that’s not how this works-”

“I don’t care, Sakura-chan said she wants Mebuki-san so you’re not allowed to do anything until you get her!”

Jiraiya stands, settling his hands on his hips. “Look, Missy-”

“I’m not a girl!” Natsu snaps, and the blanket catches fire. Sasuke watches idly, as the flames shift from the strange chakra-pattern he associates with Natsu’s unique jutsu to something more natural.

Only, it doesn’t change all the way, and Sasuke reaches for the blanket before he thinks it through, picking it up to get a closer look reflexively.

When a shinobi starts a fire with a jutsu, the fire holds their chakra for as long as they power it, but then turns to normal fire as soon as they stop, supposedly the chakra turning to nature-chakra. Only a couple Uchiha in all their records have ever been able to  _ see _ nature chakra, so normally for Sasuke fires stop glowing as soon as the creator stops putting chakra in it.

Natsu’s chakra  _ changes _ , but doesn’t disappear. He and Jiraiya argue in the background, snapping back and forth, and Sasuke can  _ tell _ none of Natsu’s chakra is pouring into the flames on the blanket, the fire’s spreading naturally the way a normal fire would, but the chakra is still… Natsu’s, somehow.

_ He can control the fire even after he releases control of it? _

It sounds right to Sasuke, especially with how Natsu insists his fire doesn’t burn anything he doesn’t want it to - but that he doesn’t need to continually output chakra to maintain that... 

Sasuke tosses the burning blanket at Jiraiya, curious.

The man catches it, clearly already informed of Natsu’s control over the flame. Then he yelps, leaping backwards as he drops it and shakes out his hand. Sasuke spies the faintest traces of a burn, before the fire disappears in a sudden press of chakra.

“I thought your fire didn’t burn, kid.” Jiraiya says with a careful tone, and Natsu’s eyes narrow sharply.

“You’re a pervert. You were feeling up Sakura-chan. You called me a  _ girl _ . I don’t like you!” Then he glances over at Sasuke, confused. “What were you doing with the blanket though?”

Sasuke shrugs, deactivating his Sharingan. Natsu’s chakra gives him a headache if he stares at it too much, like most bloodlines - since he can’t instinctively understand it. His eyes constantly try to understand what they’re seeing and it  _ hurts _ . “I wanted to see if your chakra would shift when he touched it, but it didn’t change at all until you put it out.”

Natsu opens his mouth to respond, before Jiraiya’s sigh cuts him off. The older man steps carefully around the still-smouldering blanket before he crouches down in front of the bed.

“Look, Sakura-chan… Natsu-kun. I understand that you’re possibly a bit uncomfortable with this, but we don’t have time to argue and play word games here. I need to understand what I’m working with on this seal, the sooner the better. So settle down, kiddos, and let’s get back to work!”

* * *

“I really don’t know where to start,” Jiraiya says with a groan, notebook splayed open across his face.

Hokage-sama sighs. “Can you remove the seal?”

Jiraiya tilts the book up to peek out at them from under it, before dragging himself upright with visible reluctance. “I can’t even say that much for certain. On both the Uchiha and the girl-”

“Natsu,” Kakashi interjects.

“ _ Natsu _ ,” Jiraiya corrects, “but regardless, on them both, the seal is degraded. In different ways. I can’t even get a full picture of it. I’ve tried comparing everything I  _ could _ find to the original notes on Anko’s seal, but there’s too many differences - I think the seal’s supposed to be layered? There’s a trigger of sorts, that’s supposed to activate a secondary layer to the seal but I can’t  _ find _ that layer anywhere and I don’t know if that’s because something destroyed it or if it’s hidden somehow - I mean, it’s  _ Orochi _ , you know? Anything’s possible - but still…”

“Is it possible the layers got split between Natsu and Sasuke?” Kakashi asks, but Jiraiya shakes his head even before he finishes.

“I looked for that, and while there’s certainly some interesting things going on with  _ how _ the seal got split between them, there’s no way. Not unless the seal is a  _ lot _ more damaged than it looks, and it’s too stable for that.”

“How much influence does it have over them?” Hokage-sama asks, and Jiraiya strokes his chin in thought.

“That’s hard to say as well, though for a different reason.  _ Natsu _ said something about there being a shade, or some fragment of Orochimaru’s in his mindscape. And that it was ‘under control now’. If he’s right, I’d say the influence is pretty much zero, I mean it’s not  _ unheard _ of for a seal to be able to carry consciences - it’s technically what we do with Jinchurikki to an extent, though clearly Orochimaru’s work is rather far apart from that… But technically speaking, if the mental avatar is contained the influence should be minimal. So I suppose it comes down to, do we trust that kid to know what he’s talking about, and if not, are we willing to risk sending Inoichi in to make certain of it? Cause I’m gonna need more time to figure this thing out, and I don’t think you can keep it quiet much longer if you plan to keep them in safe houses.”

Kakashi nearly offers to take them again, but bites his tongue. The Hokage’s not going to make up his mind any faster if he does, and he already knows Kakashi is willing.

The silence drags, and Kakashi wants to reach for his book.

“I see,” Hokage-sama says at last, slowly lighting his pipe. “One last question then, Jiraiya.”

He breathes out a cloud of smoke, and Kakashi resolutely doesn’t tense.


	14. The One Where Natsu and Jiraiya REALLY Don't Get Along

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit shorter than the first draft, this one got scrapped mostly because I feel like the way all the characters ended up acting here, it just wasn't in Natsu's character to give in and let Jiraiya do his thing. 
> 
> Which DOES rather need to happen to move the plot forward.
> 
> The third and final version, I tried to keep the situation from escalating this far again, but I DID enjoy writing this second version the most out of the three.  
> Right up until I realized I couldn't make it go the way I wanted without feeling off. At the end, I DID have Natsu just say 'fine, whatever' but it kept bothering me and my roommate convinced me to rewrite it for other reasons anyway.
> 
> Cause back in the final version, that whole 'Sakuni got dragged out bit'? I'd actually planned that to happen when I ended the previous chapter, but then when it actually came time to write it, I changed my mind because figuring out how it would work would be so much EFFORT and I didn't wanna.
> 
> My roommate told me laziness was not a good excuse for discarding an interesting plot line, and that I should write it. So version three ended up with the 'Sakuni gets dragged out of the mindscape', and she enjoyed it so it stuck around.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading!

Natsu wakes to the sensation of fingers brushing across his stomach, a pair of hands warm against his shoulders, and Sakuni  _ screams _ . He’s not even sure what’s wrong, really, but Sakuni’s furious and Sakura-chan feels  _ scared _ so he focuses on his magic, fire surging and all but leaping from him to lash out at the hands as he reaches back to grab the person behind him.

The person who’d been touching his stomach jerks back with a yelp, a faint scent of burning flesh following him, while the hands on his shoulders slip away calmly.

“Finally awake?” Sasuke says from behind him, just as Natsu’s fingers curl into the Uchiha’s hair, and Natsu hesitates.

_ “O-oh, it was only Sasuke-kun?”  _ Sakura-chan stutters, audibly relieved, but Sakuni only snarls.

_ “If he doesn’t have a good explanation for this we’re punching him, shannaro!” _

“Uh,” Natsu starts, letting go of Sasuke and sliding away from him, “I think? Sakuni’s really pissed for some reason…”

“Thought your fire didn’t burn, kid,” a new voice interjects, and Natsu glances over.

An older man stands a few feet away from the bed, left hand curled to his chest protectively.

The air still smells like burned flesh, and Natsu can’t see the hand clearly, but he’s pretty sure it’s not a small singe.

_ “He was… while we were  _ **_naked_ ** _ \- absolutely  _ **_NOT_ ** _ -!” _ Sakuni sputters, fury surging at the sight of the older man.

Natsu glances back at him, eyes narrowed. “Where’re my clothes?” he asks, because he’s still a little confused but he’s spent enough time with everyone in Fairy Tail to  _ know _ that girls don’t like guys seeing them naked. It’s a little weird sometimes, but over the years he’s had to chalk up a lot of things to the difference between being raised by a human or a dragon, and if it made Sakuni so angry and Sakura-chan so  _ scared _ then like hell is he gonna put up with it!

“Hey now, sheesh! Aren’t you supposed to be a guy in there? No need to get so worked up! I’m just checking out the seal Orochi left on you, I’ve been studying your teammate’s too! I’m Jiraiya!” He grins wide and steps forward.

Sakuni snarls, and fire flickers at Natsu’s fingertips. ‘Jiraiya’ freezes.

“Kid, seriously.” He starts, staring down at Natsu, “I need to keep marking down this seal if we’re going to have a chance of getting it off. Besides, she’s  _ young _ . Hasn’t even hit puberty yet, it can’t be that much different from your own, no need to be embarrassed about anything-”

_ “H-he should’ve… Kaa-san should…”  _ Sakura-chan stutters, as Sakuni spits an agreement.

_ “He’s got no right to be touching us like that while we’re  _ **_unconscious_ ** _!” _

“Where’s Mebuki-san?” Natsu interrupts, because he knows what’s wrong but not  _ why _ , but if Sakura-chan wants her mom then he’s pretty sure she’d understand.

The old man scoffs. “Look kid, this is a shinobi matter, we can’t be bringing civilians into it-”

“Then where’s Kizashi-san? He was a shinobi.”

“I don’t think the Hokage would tolerate that,” Sasuke interjects before the old man can speak, though he sounds annoyed.

When Natsu glances back, the Uchiha crosses his arms and scowls, and Natsu finally takes notice of the seal painting itself all over his body. He leans forward to get a closer look, when the old man speaks again.

“He’s right, this really isn’t the sort of situation your father would be allowed to-”

Natsu isn’t sure what Kizashi-san is to him, but hearing someone else call him his  _ father  _ is- it’s  _ wrong _ , it’s not right,  _ Igneel _ is his dad no matter what  _ anyone _ says-!

He growls, and snaps his head around to glare at the old man. “Sakura-chan’s scared, and she wants her parents! So you can go get them, or we’ll just stay in this stupid safe house a little while longer!”

The old man crosses his arms, his own eyes narrowing. “You’re not strong enough to pick a fight with me, kid. We can do this the hard way if we have to.”

_ “It’s fine, Natsu…” _ Sakura murmurs, voice quiet, and Natsu can already picture her tensed-up posture.

For some reason, he thinks she might be hugging herself, but even Sakuni’s settled down.

_ “Jiraiya of the Sannin… according to some books we read in the Academy, he was on a team with Orochimaru, so he’s probably just as strong…” _

“If you light everything on fire, we’ll get into even more trouble,” Sasuke offers gruffly, and Natsu scowls.

“Fine,” he scoffs, clasping his ankles as he glares up at Jiraiya. “What do you need to do.”

“Figure out if the seal continues past your stomach or if it melted like all the others, for a start. Are you gonna burn me again, kid?” Jiraiya steps forward, slowly but not with obvious caution.

Natsu scowls as he leans back and stares at the ceiling. “Like I’d know.”

* * *

When Jiraiya asks him to join a meeting with Hokage-sama, Kakashi tries not to be hopeful.

He shows up on time, which might be telling all on its own, so he pulls out a book and resolutely ignores the room.

The Hokage sighs, a plume of smoke trailing past his lips. “What else did you want to say then, Jiraiya?” he asks, and Kakashi wonders what they discussed  _ what they decided _ without him.


	15. A Whole Bunch of Baby Scraps from Chapter 45

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a bit mean to me! BUT IT'S FINALLY DONE! Beta-readers will go over it tonight to be posted tomorrow, and I'm already working on the next one. In the meantime, have all my little scraps that just got cut out of the chapter!
> 
> Also, RIP to me and my goal of finishing book 1 by the end of the year.  
> Even if I wrote one chapter a DAY it wouldn't be done.  
> Even if I wrote TWO chapters a day, I can't even make promises.  
> ...it would probably get done by Jan 1st if I wrote THREE chapters a day but for THAT to happen y'all would have to pray to every god you believed in for a miracle cause I'm not that smart.
> 
> For those of you who read my scrap doc, hope you enjoy!
> 
> Also, one note for this chapter, I actually scrapped the first section entirely because I decided it was a little too... extreme? So the fight-scene in the final version will not be QUITE so crazy. Anyway, thanks for reading!

Natsu barely hears it, over the creaking of the wagon wheels and the merchants’ loud discussion with Jiraiya - a slap and a light thud, a stuttered breath-

He throws himself backwards, barking out a sharp, “ _ Oi! _ ” as he moves, and barely escapes the fistfull of senbon that pepper the ground in front of him.

_ “So Jiraiya-san was right…”  _ Sakura-chan mutters, concerned, and Natsu grunts an agreement as he throws fire into the trees. He can’t let it burn  _ too _ far, but he’s seen enough of everyones’ reactions to know that anyone attacking isn’t going to realize he can control the spread, which’ll  _ really _ make ‘em panic-!

Shinobi leap out of the trees almost immediately, devoid of any headband or other identification, as Natsu’s fire devours underbrush and leaves alike. It takes more effort than he’d like to avoid the wood itself, but Sakura-chan’s a running commentary in the back of his mind about how scary a crown fire can be for shinobi, and how trees burned too deep might start to fall over once their trunks are compromised and-

Really, it reminds him a little of Happy, cause Happy  _ always _ had something to say about his fire, even if he didn’t always understand what the cat meant, and Sakura-chan’s more than willing to tell him everything he never thought to know about forest fires and how they can affect shinobi.

At this point, he’s pretty sure she’s started reciting a class lecture to him, and he doesn’t need  _ lectures  _ when there’s enemies to fight, so he leaps at the nearest enemy with a snarl.

He’s pretty sure that thud was Naruto,  _ knows _ there aren’t any clones running around, and he needs to get rid of these guys  _ now _ so he can go make sure the blond’s alright-!

“Are you crazy kid?! You’ll destroy half the forest if you keep this up!” One of the enemies shouts as Natsu throws more fire into the mix, everyone leaping away as the air starts to smell of smoke.

Fighting’s harder when he can’t coat his fists in fire to amplify his hand-to-hand, when he’s stuck using exclusively long-range fire techniques he’s half-copying off memories of Macao and other fire users he’s faced - for him, fire’s always been a close-range magic, but now, with how easily Sakura-chan burns-

He hisses in annoyance when he gets too close to his own fire - it doesn’t burn, not yet, but it’s uncomfortably hot as he steps through it and twists to go after a different enemy, cutting him off from Naruto’s side of the wagon.

Sasuke shouts a few paces away, and something in Natsu relaxes - the Uchiha’s voice comes from Naruto’s position, and Sasuke sounds worried but not  _ horrified _ so Natsu turns, plants his feet, and grins savagely at the attackers.

One of them flinches, and that’s when Natsu grabs his fire, and smothers it. Trees creak and settle as the crackling and popping of wild flame disappear in an instant, and the enemies all but leap in surprise.

The earth is coated in ash, the air still thick with smoke as Natsu leaps forward. The enemies fight back, off-balance, staring at him with concerning eyes. One tries to run, and Jiraiya appears, knocking him out in a single precise strike.

The road is strewn with unconscious shinobi, and Jiraiya looks around with an evaluating gaze.

“Huh. You weren’t kidding about the forest fire at  _ all _ , were you?”

Natsu’s fingers ache, shiny burns peppering down them, and he can’t quite stop himself from plopping onto the ground.

“Why’ould I joke about that?” he pants, as Sakura-chan worries in his mind about smoke inhalation and Sasuke-kun and the shinobi-

“They alright?” Natsu asks, blinking up at Jiraiya, and the old man stares at him a moment longer before he answers.

* * *

**Small Jiraiya POV that got scrapped and COMPLETELY rewritten in the final version:**

* * *

Jiraiya glances between the kids as they eat. Naruto tries to act normal, shoveling food with abandon as he dismays over missing the ‘kickass fight!’ and about he could have ‘totally beat more than Sasuke, ‘ttebayo!’, but Jiraiya’s pretty sure he’s fooling absolutely no one. 

Neither Pinky or the Uchiha question him, though Jiraiya thinks it’s only a matter of time.

At the very least, Jiraiya needs to stop them from asking questions inside the village. His first thought was to teach them some small technique, maybe make sure they got a handle on water-walking, but with the way his twin headaches were rubbing their curse-seals without even appearing conscious of it ever since the fight…

He needs to take another look, but after what he got from the merchant, the absolute  _ last _ place he can risk studying such a seal is here in the village.

If only getting out were as easy as walking away. But Natsu’s already been giving him looks, and Jiraiya’s running out of time to stall the brat. If he doesn’t say something about the situation, Natsu  _ will _ , and once Naruto and Sasuke know what’s going on, well.

Jiraiya doesn’t know them well, but he knows them well enough to be certain they won’t be going  _ anywhere _ once the kiddos realize what’s happening.

He sighs.

If he’d realized it would be  _ this _ much work corralling Team 7, he would have demanded Kakashi accompany them. At least then he’d have a scapegoat for stuff like this.

Maybe he  _ can _ still use the training excuse though… at least to get them somewhere a little harder to sneak up on than a crowded village…

“You kids wanna learn how to walk on water?” he leans over the table with a grin, and watches three sets of eyes snap to him.

Sometimes being a teacher has its perks!

* * *

**Even smaller Sasuke POV that I got rid of cause I wanted more ANGST.**

**Baby-angst, cause this fic is at its heart a happy fic, but still.**

**I needed more angst so this version got scrapped before it even got started, really.**

* * *

“Yeah? That’s my name.” Natsu sits back with a grin, still sitting on Naruto, and the dobe starts  _ bawling _ .

Sasuke looks away, disgusted, as his teammates flail like idiots.

At least until they drag him into it.

“Sasuke was worried too! I don’t think he’s even left to go to the bathroom since he found you!” Sasuke snaps his head around to glare, only to have the dobe practically  _ thrown _ at him as Natsu cackles about friendship hugs before adding himself to the pile.

Naruto laughs sheepishly.

“S-sorry, you guys! It won’t happen again, dattebayo!”


	16. Tiny Baby Scrap!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A tiny scrap from the (now finished!) chapter 46, that got cut cause Jiraiya POV wasn't working for me and I saw a perfect opportunity for NARUTO FEELS-!!!
> 
> So yeah, this scene happens /totally/ different now, and this scrap's so short it almost isn't worth offering, but you get it anyway! 
> 
> Chapter 46 should be edited and posted by tomorrow night.
> 
> Thanks for reading!

Jiraiya calls a stop to their practice after Naruto takes his first successful steps, to loud protests from the blond. 

Sasuke scowls. “Trying to back out of your deal?” he grumbles with a sharp edge to his voice, and the old man laughs.

“Pinky’s over there trying to pretend he’s  _ not _ running out of chakra, and you’re not much better. You’ve got the hang of it, there’ll be more time to practice later. For now, we need to talk.”

Jiraiya walks off towards the shore and Naruto groans, slowly sinking back into the water.

“I only just figured it out tooooo…” his slow sinking turns into a quick fall as his chakra gives out, submerging him briefly before he comes back up spluttering.

Natsu doesn’t fight to keep his balance when the waves from Naruto’s flailing disrupt his footing, and just starts swimming back to shore.

Sasuke walks slowly, clearly trying not to fall in again since he’s mostly-dry already, and Natsu and Naruto exchange a quick glance before Naruto, with a grin, grabs one of Sasuke’s ankles.

Natsu grabs the other as the Uchiha yelps, and they swim away laughing as he starts spitting curses behind them.


	17. A Collection of Ch. 48 Scraps

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops! I had some scraps from last week's chapter that I totally forgot to post! Better late than never, I guess!
> 
> I will hopefully get this week's chapter out in a reasonable time, but we shall see...
> 
> (my roommate is spending Valentine's at her boyfriends, but all I wanna do is binge-watch Voltron: Legendary Defender with her so I am having an emotional sulk...)
> 
> Enjoy!

They don’t get around to talking about the bandits that night. It’s… it is what it is, but Jiraiya knows the situation here is pretty precarious, and they _need_ to talk about it, but the moment Naruto gets control of himself he becomes a font of endless questions, all _“How did you know my mom, when did you meet her, did she ever prank you, what’s her favorite ramen?”_ and Jiraiya just… can’t bring himself to change the subject.

So they talk about Uzumaki Kushina, and the looks on Naruto and Sasuke’s faces when they realize their moms were _best friends_ is something Jiraiya wishes he’d had enough warning to catch on camera.

Natsu somehow comes to the conclusion that since Naruto’s mom tried to adopt Kakashi, and since Kakashi has an Uchiha dojutsu, that means they have shared custody on him, and Jiraiya will _absolutely_ make sure to be there to see Kakashi’s face when they tell him.

Naruto giggles every time he looks at Sasuke, and the Uchiha kid doesn’t seem half as annoyed as Jiraiya would expect.

He’s… very glad he isn’t Kakashi, he thinks.

Especially with the look on Natsu’s face every time the man gets mentioned.

It’s easy to find enough stories to tell about Kushina. She was such an outgoing woman, always in the thick of things, so stories of her aren’t exactly hard to recall.

It’s a bit harder to dodge around the subject of Naruto’s father, though. He’s pretty sure it was Sakura-chan, first, who realized what he was doing, though he can’t entirely rule out Natsu. The play of emotions on his face seemed a bit more like Sakura being the one to tell him, but, well…

Sasuke catches on shortly after, and Jiraiya wonders if Natsu was able to point it out somehow, or if Sasuke was just paying enough attention to his teammates to realize there _was_ something Jiraiya was dodging around.

**(Author Comment: I was trying to skip to the next day, but the further I went here the more I realized my brain REALLY wanted to write out the Kushina conversation a bit more so I scrapped this)**

* * *

“She-” he starts, then stops, glancing awkwardly toward the stars for a moment. “Here,” Jiraiya brings his hands together, a simple bunshin peeling off his form and shifting appearance. Jiraiya carefully doesn’t look at it, and Natsu wonders how close they were, as the bunshin gradually shrinks and changes, until a redheaded girl is standing there.

**(AC: decided that Jiraiya making a henged bunshin of Kushina was too weird for him so I scrapped this and went a different route)**

* * *

Naruto refuses to let go of him, babbling about where he wants to put all the pictures and what sorts of frames he should buy, and Jiraiya doesn’t have the heart to drop him so he just carries him all the way back, Natsu only grumbling a little bit as he grabs blondie’s kunai pouch and jacket.

**(AC: was gonna have Naruto fall asleep in-route before I decided he’s a little too old for that lol)**

* * *

Naruto seemed fun-loving and energetic and always up to mischief, what little Jiraiya’s seen of him so far.

Bit like Jiraiya himself, really, when he was a kid.

Except Jiraiya knows if someone told him his mom’s favorite food as a kid, he’d never have reacted like that.

Oh, he’d have tried it, just to see if he liked it too, but he wouldn’t have _cried_ over it.

**(AC: decided to go a slightly different direction)**


End file.
